Roxanne was still on the air, speaking into the camera from her place behind the news desk. Normally this wasn't her domain; she was a field reporter, who would go to the stories and report on them live, but when something like this was happening it seemed as though the right place was behind a desk.
The woman could understand the worry and panic in the air. Never before had the hero been kidnapped, and the fact that it was Megamind, who had patrolled the city wonderfully for the past several months, came as a shocking blow.
On top of that, Minion was gone as well. He couldn't be found anywhere, so even if no footage of him had been shown, Roxanne could only shudder to imagine what kind of danger the fish-man was in now. Was he all right? Or was he in pain? The idea was horrifying, but she managed to keep such emotions off her face as she read from the teleprompter and listened in on her earpiece, feeding the populace of Metro City information.
Meanwhile, outside, the guard standing in front of the building had to lower his sunglasses as he saw something... flying through the air. With the direction of the sun, he couldn't see who it was, and for a fleeting second he believed it was Metro Man, returned from the dead. He took a step forward, but the one who landed in front of him wasn't Metro Man; it was Minion. A very angry, intimidating-looking Minion.
"Minion? But, but you're meant to be-"
"Show me the tapes," Minion said quietly. "No time for questions. Show them to me."
"You want-oh! Uh, you, you need clearance to-" the man stepped back once more as Minion was suddenly in his face, golden-brown irises pinpointed and narrowed right at him. "..to..."
"I need to see those files, please," the fish-man whispered, never raising his voice, and yet it felt as though he was screaming the request. "I need to find him, and I need to track the film. Now please move aside, or I will move you myself."
The guard did just that, giving the fish-man entrance to the building. Well, he was the hero's companion, so if anyone had authority right now he would. He watched as the fish-man walked into the building before blinking in realization. "Wait, since when could he fly?"
Inside the building, word quickly spread that Minion had actually shown up, perfectly fine and demanding to see the files. The fish-man was led up into the anchor room, and he walked past the desk where Roxanne Ritchi was still reading from the teleprompter. Her boss, in her earpiece, yelled at her to drag Minion onscreen for a quick word. It would be good for ratings, he said, and while she hated to play on Minion's distress at this moment, she didn't want to face the wrath of an angry boss.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to report that Minion, faithful companion to Megamind, has just walked into our studio," she said shakily, looking up at the fish-man who had stopped in his tracks when he heard her mention his name. "M-Minion do you have just a brief moment to-"
Minion was beside her in seconds, hands on the desk, and looking straight at the camera. His ears fanned out suddenly, as if trying to look impressive, but the look on his face was already doing enough of that.
"Sir, if you're hearing this," he started, tone level and calm despite the fury in his eyes, "I'm coming."
With that he left the desk, and Roxanne, and returned to join the tech guys who were leading him through to a room lined with glowing computer screens and towers of motherboards.
"We've been trying to trace it ever since we got it, but we keep being bounced around by the multiple interferences in the wires and radio towers..." said one of them, as Minion pulled a chair out and sat down in front of the computer screen closest to him.
The horrible video was being played on repeat, it seemed. At this moment there was Lady Doppler, Mary, draped over a couch as if she had been placed there by somebody else. Her hair was far longer than normal; it must have been curled incredibly tight, because if she hadn't worn it curly how could her hair be that ridiculously long? It flowed over her shoulders and back, all the way off the couch, and coiled into pools of white tresses on the floor.
She wore a spandex outfit that hugged her slender frame, colored in oranges, blues, and whites, like a cloudy sky at sunset. No longer were her eyes warm, blue and inviting. They were completely white, like a dead fish in the water. It was horrifying. Her smile had changed drastically, no longer warm and friendly but narrow and hard-biting. All teeth and lips, no more tenderness.
How could he have once thought she was pretty? His fists clenched against the desk, and it got only worse when she announced "Here is your hero," and the screen changed.
There was Megamind, lying on the floor. He was tied to a chair, but from the looks of things he had attempted to wriggle out of it only to end up toppling over entirely. His suit, as well as his cape, was torn, exposing blue skin that nobody but Minion and Roxanne had ever laid eyes on before. His eyes were shut, and for a fleeting moment Minion feared he was already dead, but those green eyes suddenly opened, and the look in them belonged to man who was petrified but trying not to show it. But, as always, those eyes gave away everything.
There were black patches on his skin; what were they? Had she burned him? Had she? Minion bared his teeth before bringing up the email that had sent the film to all news channels within the city, and forced himself not to hurl the computer screen through the wall at the image he had seen. He'd never seen his Sir like that in his life, even when Metro Man was bearing down on them after another failed attempt, or when Tighten was ready to destroy him. Granted, he hadn't seen much from his place by the fountain, but he had seen enough.
"See, it keeps bouncing back here." One of the tech boys pointed to a map that was being displayed on one of the other monitors. "We can't work around the firewall."
"Firewall schmirewall," Minion whispered as his fingers worked against the keyboard so quickly, and deftly, that the room was soon full of the melodious vigorous clicking. The men stared, eyes wide, as Minion's own eyes never left the screen, or even blinked, as he typed in codex that none of them had ever seen before. One of them rushed to get a camera to film this, since it wasn't something that happened often.
"Narrowing field..." Minion whispered to himself. The map on display began to suddenly flash as a circle that showed how far the pick-up range was rapidly began to shrink. "And... we will... find the location..."
It stopped, and a big green circle appeared on the map. Minion stared at it intently, eyes narrowed.
"They're in uptown!" said one of the men. "Near the aquarium!"
There was a sudden rush of noise and wind, causing both men to instinctively shut their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, the room was completely empty of the alien man-fish, who had left far quicker than he had arrived.
"Quick, print this out, print it out!" one of them squawked at the other as the two men began to bustle around the room like bored parakeets.
Minion landed at the lair first, and was horrified at what he saw.
They hadn't been kidding when they talked about destruction before. There were pieces of metal, and Brain Bots, strewn everywhere. Arcs of black marred the ground, walls, and ceiling. Dotted around were small, glowing blue cubes, which told him Megamind had indeed try to defend himself but obviously had missed his target something awful. The hole that the DNA convertor had created was back, bigger and badder than ever. He found scraps of Megamind's cape, and he stared down at the black and blue material before his hands began to shake with rage again.
He tossed the material aside and rushed through the lair, and the fish-man stopped as he passed what was left of the Spider Bot. It was lying on its side, three of its legs mangled and part of its driver's seat crushed by rubble.
"Spider Bot...!" Minion gasped as he rushed up to the large A.I., who whined slowly at seeing him. "Oh... what happened here? What..." he started to ask, but it was fruitless to ask the fallen Bot. He stroked its glowing lenses gently. "I'll be back later to fix you up. All right? After, after that it'll be fine. You'll be fine."
The large machine only whined softly one more time, before the red lights in its headlight eyes powered down and faded to black.
"You're going to pay for this..." Minion whispered to himself as he looked around the lab, before spotting what he was after.
It had been tucked away in a cupboard that Lady Doppler hadn't blasted open during the 'fun' she'd obviously had while destroying their poor lab. He rushed up to it and pulled it out, and stretched the materials in his hands. Well. He had built it for a specific purpose, he might as well wear it now...
"What? Oh come on darling, don't look at me like that," Lady Doppler cooed at Megamind, who, just recently, she had uprighted in his chair. "It's not my fault you were silly and struggled. Honestly, did you think you were going to go escaping? Have you ever escaped from rope before?" she asked, grinning fiendishly to show that she already knew the answer to this and just wanted to toy with him like a cat with a mouse.
"I must say," Megamind started, as boldly as he could while tied to a chair. "You've certainly come a long way since I last saw you."
"And when was that?" she asked.
"Metro Man chasing you and the rest of the Doom Syndicate out of town," Megamind shot back, eyes narrowed. "I remember you crying like a little girl at the time."
Lady Doppler snorted in amusement before pinching his cheek harshly, leaning closer to him with a snide grin on her face. "Ah, but so much has changed since then, hasn't it? Metro Man is dead. You're the hero. Everybody loves you. I tell you, I refused to believe any of this until I saw it for myself. With Metro Man gone... I could come home again. Thanks, for that, sweetie."
"I am not your sweetie, nor am I any kind of candy to you!" He squirmed away from her hand, cheek turning slightly pink from the harsh pinch.
She scoffed, and clapped her hands together. "Always adorable. Even back when you were with us you were adorable. But we didn't do 'adorable' in our group well, did we?"
"I left by my own choice!" Megamind snarled.
"Please, we kicked you and your stupid fish out."
"Don't you dare call Minion stupid!" he threatened. "Or-"
"Or you'll what? Glare at me?" Lady Doppler asked, before giggling and clapping her hands together as if she were an excited child. She lifted herself off the ground and sat, suspended in the air, crossing her legs as she did. "Oh, but he is pretty stupid. He was oh so easy to manipulate. All it took was time and careful planning..."
"Huh?" he asked, blinking dumbly.
"Oh! I didn't tell you! Gah, I'm so forgetful about some things." She smacked her forehead before hovering closer to him, until they were eye to eye. "I'm Mary."
"W-what?" Megamind asked, looking shocked.
"I'm Mary! I'm the girl he's been talking to every day! I'm the girl who managed to snag him away yesterday, and I'm the girl who left him abandoned in a room guarded by two of my henchmen!"
"What did you do to him?" The blue alien tried as hard as he could to pull out of his ropes all over again, but the attempt was useless. He wasn't going anywhere, no matter how badly he wanted to leap up and just... he didn't know. Could he hit a woman? He had been a villain all his life but he'd never struck a woman. But then again, could he call Lady Doppler a woman? The word suddenly sounded like an insult when he paired it to her name.
Lady Doppler smiled lusciously at him before she ran her hands down her front, giving a happy sound as she did. "Mmmhhhh, what didn't I do to him?" she asked.
Megamind felt his stomach suddenly turn to lead, and he was certain his face must have lost all of its color when she said that, since she suddenly quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oohhh my, yes..." she purred as she floated closer to him again, resting a hand on his shoulder. "He was like putty in my hands, Megamind. He'd never experienced what I gave him, do you know? And..." she leaned in and whispered into his ear. "He loved it."
The blue alien was known for his quick and witty banter. He could argue back and forth with Metro Man for hours; it was one of his best qualities. And yet, sitting here, with this woman feeding him this kind of information, his sharp-witted tongue seemed to have dulled in his mouth. His hearts were aching, his mind swimming with a whirl of emotions he didn't want, imagines he wished he couldn't think up. She's lying, he thought viciously.
"You're nothing but a filthy liar!" Megamind spat, and dared to actually swing his head, headbutting the woman with his powerfully large and impressive cranium.
Their heads connected with a horrible noise, somewhere between a crack and a slam, and already Lady Doppler was developing a massive bruise against her forehead where he had struck her. She yelled in pain and frustration, lifting up to grasp at her throbbing head, white eyes flashing angrily.
"Ugh! And you're a freak of nature who should have died on impact!" She suddenly opened her hands out at him, and lightning shot out and struck him.
Megamind was eerily silent as the bolts travelled through his body, enough to shock and hurt him, but nothing beyond that. It still sent him falling onto the ground again, chair and all, as tiny sparks danced between the spikes on his suit.
She lowered herself to the ground finally, and ran a hand through her long hair as it settled against her back. "Well. I don't know about you. But I'm going to go find out what this precious city is going to do about you. It's so exciting, isn't it?" she asked sweetly before walking from the room, turning the lights off, and shutting the door behind her, leaving the still-shocked Megamind lying on the floor.
He finally blinked a few moments later, and cringed at the pain still circling through his body. Damn it. He'd almost forgotten the woman's abilities with wind and lightning. That was why she had been so successful in her assault on his poor lair; everything was made of metal. All she had to do was conduct a bolt of lightning powerful enough to short circuit all of his poor Brain Bots and the machinery in the lab to cause a violent reaction, which had resulted in all those explosions. Megamind, shaken by his emotional outburst only a little while earlier, hadn't had a clear mind at the moment of attack.
That was how he ended up in this situation, tied to a chair, all night. And Minion... she said she had him, too. But where? Where was he? Was he hurt? Was he dead? His mind raced at the possibilities, but while he knew she wasn't a murdering psychopath, the woman was clearly deranged enough to cause damage to his poor friend. Why, why hadn't he done a background check on this woman? That's it, he decided. Soon as I'm out of here, anyone trying to be friends with me or Minion will be getting a thorough police scan!
"...if I get out of here," he said quietly, hating the fear in his voice.
He wasn't one to linger in fear for too long, since it wasn't a nice mindset to be in. He had faith in the people of Metro City, and the police, and the Warden especially, for the man had practically raised him. But he still couldn't help but be afraid, terribly afraid, that the next moment that door opened Lady Doppler would unleash something worse than what she'd already done.
Heaven forbid if she tried to paint his toenails like she used to...
Lady Doppler brushed a long strand out of her face as she approached the mirror on the wall, and hissed as she looked at the massive bruise the alien had left her. "Oh God, look at the size of this thing...! Looks like I was hit by a bus..." she muttered as she tenderly touched her head, and hissed since it already hurt something awful. "Stupid alien," she muttered, before strutting over to her setup of multiple computer screens that showed the news websites streaming, as well as the weather camera that monitored Metro City at all times, recording weather patterns.
It was while she was glancing at the news channels that she saw something she hadn't anticipated.
"Minion escapes capture," she read those three words and jolted back, surprised. Escaped? How had he escaped? He was a fish-man of mediocre strength, how could he break down a door? And he'd been too high up to jump out the window. Why hadn't her hired henchmen called her? Angrily, Lady Doppler grabbed a phone and began to dial.
"Can't do anything, knew I should have kept him here..." Lady Doppler whispered to herself angrily. She listened to the phone calling, and calling, and soon wrung out. Feeling a little worried now, the woman put the phone down and looked at it. Had Minion... no, no. He wasn't a killer, was he? Then again, he has those teeth, and he was an animal for most of his life...
A countdown clock displayed amongst her computer screens flashed at her, letting her know she had five minutes left, as did Megamind. She checked her bruise again and positioned her hair so it covered most of it, before hitting the record button. She smiled pleasantly, despite the worry now in her stomach.
"Greetings, Metro City, me again! Miss me? I missed you! Well, there's only five minutes left-oop, make that four!- until Megamind's hour is up, and I don't see any of the news channels telling me what I desired is ready, or here. I'm disappointed, Metro City." She put a hand to her chest, looking bereft. "I thought that you cared for your hero, but it looks like you don't! How disappointing. So here's the gist. In a few minutes I'm going to be carrying you through to witness the end of your hero. Maybe then you'll learn not to take everything for granted, and feel that there'll always be somebody around to save your sorry behinds. See you soon!" She turned the camera off and hit the 'send' button instantly, before turning around in her chair, rubbing her sore head. "Bunch of..."
The wall besides her suddenly exploded, sending bricks and dust flying into the air. The young woman yelped in surprise and instantly leapt out of her chair, hair caught in the wind and whipping around her head as she lifted her hands to shield her face. "W-what the..."
A hand was suddenly around her neck and the woman was slammed down against her desk of monitors, sending a fair few of them toppling to the ground. As the dust quickly settled she saw who it was, and even though she knew he had broken out of his confinement it was still a shock to see Minion here, standing over her, with a look of total and utter hatred in his brown eyes.
"M-Minion..." she strained. "So good to... see you."
"Where is he?" Minion asked quietly as he pulled back, lifting the woman up off the ground and holding her above him. "Where is he?" his tone grew more demanding.
Lady Doppler's answer was to scratch her gloved hands suddenly across Minion's face. He yelped in surprise; while it didn't hurt, he still wasn't used to the idea that he was indestructible. Did he even know he was? He dropped the woman and took a step back, lifting his hands to touch his face.
"How did you get out? What did you do to my henchmen?" Lady Doppler demanded, hovering in the air. "You're not meant to be here, you're ruining everything! What do you think you are, a hero? You're nothing but a minion, a stupid little minion who does everything for that stupid hero you call your boss!"
Minion suddenly snarled, and next thing Lady Doppler knew he was grappling with her. She instantly flew upwards into the air, taking the fish-man with her. When they got high enough she could push him off, sending him falling back to the city. How she'd dislodge him though, since he had a fairly good grip of her, would be tricky. So, she began to fly in crooked zigzags and loop-de-loops through the air. Still Minion held onto her for all he was worth, which was a lot, since it felt as though she just couldn't shake him. "Let go of me!" she finally snarled, and yelped since he had suddenly grabbed onto her hair and yanked. "AUGH!"
"NO!" Minion shouted back as the wind whipped around him, and he tried not to feel motion sick from the crazy flying that Lady Doppler was putting him through. That was the only drawback; he wasn't used to any of this; the crazy flying, no banter, none of that was how he handled things. But on the tenth loop-de-loop, Minion finally released her, and fell.
"YES!" Lady Doppler squealed, but then gasped, and replaced it with a "NO!" since Minion was... hovering there, as if... as if he was Metro Man.
Was Minion actually Minion? Was he somebody else? No, who else could pull off a face like that? "W-what?" she asked, shocked.
"I'm going to ask again, where-" Minion stopped as he spun around and stared at the building he had flew into moments ago. Megamind could be down there, couldn't he? She would keep her prized 'jewel' nearby surely, especially if she was about to... "You were going to kill him," Minion suddenly remembered, turning to look up at the woman, eyes once again flashing with anger.
"Kill him? Kill him? Hah!" Lady Doppler laughed, amused. "I'd be doing him a favor if I did, that-yike!" she suddenly flew away, since Minion had suddenly flown right at her. She hadn't anticipated that. He wasn't like his master at all, he wasn't stopping to banter or jibe or throw insults back and forth at all! Didn't he know how things worked? Or was he beyond the rules now, ignoring them? Had she enraged him that much? Lady Doppler flew away from the green-skinned fish-man as quickly as she could, manipulating the wind currents around her to carry her faster. But it seemed he was smart enough to remain as close to her as possible, using the same drag of wind as she was.
"Stop following me!" she yelped, unnerved by how determined the fish was.
The two flying beings flew straight into the aquarium. The way they swam in and out between the open air facility was a wonder, but there were people there, people who cried out in surprise (some delight, some shock) at seeing Lady Doppler being chased by Minion, of all things. He suddenly had a grip on one of her ankles and the woman screamed as he threw her down into one of the tanks. Lady Doppler sunk into the water momentarily before climbing out, and glared up at the fish-man who was flying straight down at her. She yelped and took to the air, her soaking wet hair now feeling far heavier than it really was. That gave her some drag, so Minion grabbed hold of her again and threw her down into another tank, and she got out of that one quick smart since there had been at least four sharks nearby.
While the two flying beings were playing out their battle within the aquarium, a news van that had followed Minion pulled up in front of the building he had vanished into. Roxanne raced out, uncaring if her cameraman kept up, and rushed inside. She knew this was brazen and stupid of her, but if Minion had been right, if Megamind was in here, he had to get out of here. To imagine Lady Doppler angry, blind for revenge or whatever it was she wanted him for, doing anything to him, was too horrendous to imagine. She paused to stare out a nearby window to see the shapes of the two flying around the aquarium just down the street, before continuing into the lair.
There was a gaping hole in the wall, and standing around it were, Roxanne could only guess, Lady Doppler's henchmen. The men heard her and turned around to look at her, all of them wearing masks and clothes that made her think of dark stormy nights. They wore metallic gloves, and they all sparked as the lifted them, but Roxanne was quicker.
Back when she had been dating Megamind, he had built a way for her to defend herself, and even when they had broken up he insisted she keep it close to her just in case. Her De-Gun was quicker than their gloves and didn't need time to charge, and seconds later three tiny blue cubes sat on the floor. "Some help," she muttered as she put the De-Gun back into her bag before hurrying to the lone door.
Pushing the door open she saw him, laying there on the floor, tied to a chair. Months ago, Roxanne would have found this sight very pleasing. He would have deserved it, after all the times he had kidnapped her, strapped her to chairs, and taunted her in an attempt to impress her or terrify her. Now, though, she saw a sorry sight that made her heart ache. She rushed to her friend. "Megamind, Megamind...!" she gasped, praying he was alive and not dead already. "Please, Megamind... open your eyes, it's all right..."
"Roxanne?" he asked, opening his eyes straight away, and looked up at her. "Oh, Roxanne! Roxanne it-it's you-wait, what are you doing here?"
"Minion led me here," Roxanne said as she began to untie the rope quickly. "He's fighting Lady Doppler, right now."
"What?" Megamind finally wriggled free of the ropes that had kept him in place since the night before. No doubt he had rope burns on his wrists and ankles... "Where are they? Where?"
"Last I saw they were at the aquarium, but..." she replied before Megamind rushed past her to the door. "Hey, wait!"
"I can't wait! I have to see him!" Megamind called back as he rushed past the cameraman. He had been filming the area, but lifted the camera as Megamind raced past him, and kept on him as the blue alien paused momentarily by the doors, gripping the frames to look over his shoulder at Roxanne. "I love him, I can't leave him now!" he said, unknowing or uncaring if this was going live or not, and ran from the room.
Roxanne raced up after him, pausing to look at the cameraman. She blinked, before realizing this was live. "T-this is Roxanne Ritchi reporting live from Lady Doppler's lair. Megamind has been released from his... his ropes, and now we're both on our way to the Aquarium, where Lady Doppler and Minion are continuing their fight! Stay tuned, more soon!" She gestured the camera off, heart racing.
Megamind had just admitted to loving Minion, a very male fish-man, on live television, and he didn't even know it. "They're going to love this," she groaned as she hurried out after Megamind to offer him a ride to the aquarium in her news van.
She just hoped that they had not missed anything major happening...
To be continued